New report emerges one year after MH370 tragedy

On the first anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and the 239 people on board, the Malaysian government’s Department of Civil Aviation (ICAO) released a report compiled by their safety investigation team.

Although the 585 page report is the most comprehensive to date, detailing elements of the pilot and crew’s personal histories, the cause for the Boeing 777’s disappearance into the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam remains inconclusive.

In light of the report revealing that the battery for one of the aircraft’s black boxes (specifically, its underwater locator beacon) had been expired and not replaced since December 2012, Malaysia Airlines is maintaining that there was another black box installed in the cockpit with a full battery life, and as such, the expired battery did not impede the search.

Following the ICAO report, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) published its 2014 commercial aviation safety performance, outlining that the ICAO has proposed a move toward the implementation of a performance-based standard for the global tracking of commercial aircraft, and that the proposal has been welcomed by the aviation industry as a whole.

In a statement released in response to the ICAO report, Malaysian Airlines announced that in March 2015 it will voluntarily adopt the Enhanced IATA Operational Safety Audit as part of a number of operational safety and security enhancements being undertaken by the company.

This will include changes to flight tracking, planning and monitoring procedures, whereby the airline will upgrade their flight tracking application using the SITA system, which will allow every aircraft to be tracked using ADS-B, Ground Radar and ACARS, and the dispatcher to see both the aircraft’s actual - and projected - track.

Malaysia Airlines also emphasized recent upgrades to their fleet's Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), pointing out that while ICAO most recent mandates require reports within 15 minute intervals, the airline's B737-8, A330 and A380 fleet are now set at 10 minute reporting intervals.

The IATA report classified MH370 as a fatal accident – one of 12 in 2014. 

Malaysia declared the flight's disappearance an accident in January, but both the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and the Chinese government have insisted that they remain committed to the search.